


Love Is Strong As Death

by Lady TS (TSMenninger)



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Season/Series 03
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-04
Updated: 2016-02-04
Packaged: 2018-05-11 11:36:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5625292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TSMenninger/pseuds/Lady%20TS
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In "The New Neverland," Belle told Rumpelstiltskin he had countless paths to take but he only wanted to explore the path of the future in which they were together before sacrificing his life in "Going Home" to stop his father Peter Pan. What if everything from Enchanted Forest events bringing Rumple back from the dead in “Quiet Minds” up until “Swan Song” didn’t happen as we saw them, but were only events of a possible future Rumple saw in the Underworld?  What if Rumple visited Belle in her dreams prior to the search for the Dark One Vault?  This story explores what Rumple went through in the Underworld after "Going Home" and shows an alternate path when Rumple warns Belle of the consequences of bringing him back (Bae’s death).  Because of his actions, Rumple is left in the Underworld with only love for Bae and Belle to help endure the wrath of Hades (who punishes him for changing fate) and Milah's scorn until he gets the attention of Persephone, the “Iron Queen,” who takes pity on him and offers another way back to Belle and Bae, one that involves getting Emma (and Henry) from New York to the Enchanted Forest to defeat Zelena before she enacts a spell to go back in time—an act that will endanger all the realms.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. COUNTLESS PATHS

**Author's Note:**

> Spoiler Warning: Even though this is a "canon divergence" story, it will mention Once Upon a Time events from Season 3's episode "The New Neverland" to Season 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (Season 3 "New Neverland" episode events that we saw and ones we could have seen) What if as Rumple considered his path with Belle, it was making her a part of his newly restored family? However, Rumple's proposal must wait until he has a cure for Charming's Dreamshade poisoning, which is a risky undertaking, and his uncertainty that his papa Pan is really trapped forever in Pandora's Box. And as things usually happen in Storybrooke, a normal day is nearly impossible as Rumple's plan to propose to Belle is derailed when Emma and the Charmings suspect Pan is indeed controlling his Shadow from the box. Determined to protect Belle, Bae and Henry, Rumple heads down a path that he fears in the end might cost more than any of them imagine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story begins with the tail end of one of my absolute favorite scenes between Rumple and Belle where they discuss the future. I'm working to be as accurate as possible when incorapting dialogue in this chapter from the actual episode (the beautiful scene between Rumple and Belle in his shop, so wonderfully acted by Robert Carlyle and Emilie De Ravin, to the scene with the Dreamshade cure for Charming, the "crisis" at the shop, the town line discovery that Henry is trapped inside Henry's body and the scene of heading to Regina's vault) without just rehashing those scenes.

As if his life depended on it, Rumple held tight to Belle’s hands; he took in the familiar surroundings of his quiet shop—something while he was trapped in Pandora’s Box, he’d never thought possible again. Yet here he was, back in his Storybrooke business attire—a shirt, vest and necktie—holding hands with Belle, who optimistically had said he had countless paths to take.  
“But there’s only one of those paths I’m interested in,” Rumple said, gazing deep into Belle’s bright blue eyes. He would never cease to be amazed in her faith in him and in her love, pure enough to pierce the darkness of what he was.  
”Which one’s that?” Belle asked.  
“The one where you and I are together.” Rumple pulled Belle in to kiss.  
Belle’s soft sobs gave way to warm tears that grazed his cheek, giving him odd comfort as they kissed, especially as he thought of the next task before him. Foresight had told him what he needed to do would succeed; but precaution with the puzzle of future sight had him leave his shadow with the Dark One dagger in Neverland just in case.  
As they embraced, Belle once again proved that perhaps even a Dark One could change his fate because of true love. And maybe, for once, Rumple could share her belief in a happy ending. Belle was here—in his arms. She was real—not Pan’s shadow manipulating him. Bae was alive, hopefully celebrating saving Henry with Emma at Granny’s; and, as the glint of gold from his cane lying on the glass counter reminded him, Rumpelstiltskin could be a different man, starting with his promise to Bae, the one that earned an honest thank you from Snow White.  
As much as he hated to, Rumple pulled away from Belle. “Hey, but before we can take that path, there is something I have to do.”  
“What’s that?”  
“If I let Prince Charming die, what sort of happy ending am I deserving of?”  
“The cure for the Dreamshade poisoning?”  
Rumple nodded. “It’ll be a long process, I’m afraid. I could use your help bringing some things I need from the house—and if you wouldn’t mind, perhaps your company as I work?”  
“You want my help—with magic?” Belle smiled.  
“I made the mistake of shutting you out before, when I was trying to find a way to keep my memories to cross the town line,” Rumple said, wiping away remnants of tears from Belle’s face. “My time in Neverland—your love—illuminated me. And with what I have to do to find the cure, I need you should I make a mistake.”  
Belle’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “What’s that supposed to mean?”  
Honesty of the heart, Charming had once advised Rumple, was required in a relationship. He cleared his throat. “Sweetheart, before I found you again after losing you to the person Regina created in Lacey, I would have had no problem finding an unsuspecting pawn—Pan’s boy Felix, for example—and experimenting on them with a magical cure for the poison. Not this time. I intend to use myself.”  
“But Rum—“  
“Foresight tells me I’ll succeed, so there’s no need for worry.” Rumple brushed new tears from Belle’s cheek. “This is going to work—you just have to have faith in me—as you always do, despite what I am.”  
“You’re not a what, Rumple,” Belle said, composing herself, “but the man I love—and yes, I trust you with this. What do you need from the house?”  
“In the basement, you’ll find everything on this list.” Rumple handed Belle a folded paper with his keys. “I have the spring water and a branch of Dreamshade from Neverland.”  
“That you’re going to cut yourself with?”  
“Once we have the potion mixed together, yes.” Rumple nodded. “And after we have the cure, we’ll explore that path together. I promise.” He kissed Belle again, this time summoning all the courage he could from a lifetime of cowardice that he never failed her again.

* * *

Rumple stopped spinning and once the wheel stopped, he heard only the normal silence of his shop when he was alone.  
Belle had been gone too long.  
Maybe, it was just the unsettling gnawing his gut that something wasn’t right, or, as Rumple looked at the thorny black branch on his work table, fear of memories of how the poison had nearly killed him not all that long ago after the pirate’s hook coated with it stabbed his chest.  
_But I’m prepared this time._ Rumple took assurance from the bottle of water from Neverland’s spring next to the Dreamshade. _And Belle will be here with me—not lying in a hospital bed with no memories of who she is._  
_Everything’s all right. There’s a lot in the basement. It’s just taking Belle a longer time to find it all._  
_Pan’s still trapped in Pandora’s box—secured away under the floor._  
_Belle is safe._  
_Regina’s not the Evil Queen any more. She’s not lurking out there, waiting to throw Belle into a dungeon to use as leverage for a deal._  
_Hook’s not still looking for revenge, ready to kill Belle in exchange for Milah. No, the pirate’s likely too busy competing with Bae for Emma’s affections to see whether he or Bae is Emma’s true love._  
_Cora is long gone as are a host of other potential threats—either dead or not in Storybrooke._  
_So why am I so damned uneasy?_  
Then the answer came.  
_Belle deserves a happy ending, but how can I even hope for one?_  
Rumple returned to the only way he knew how to deal with unease—the way he’d learned as a boy abandoned by his papa—spinning.  
He thanked the two spinsters for teaching him a ditty he’d never forgotten. _Spinning cleans the mind; soothes the soul._

* * *


	2. The Steepest Price

Dying--in his centuries of living, this had been the moment Rumple most feared. And death, not because someone chose to take the power of the Dark One, but because for once in his life under the curse, he had chosen to be unselfish. To save not just Baelfire and Belle from death, but all of Storybrooke. He'd chosen love. Shouldn't that count for something? Or was killing his father, even if it was to save everyone, an unforgiveable sin? One that was going to land him into an eternity of the worse part of the Underworld?

TO BE CONTINUED

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work in progress that is beginning with the Rumple we saw in the "New Neverland" who was trying for the sake of Bae and Belle to change. I like to think that Rumple was wanting to propose to Belle as they were leaving his shop in this episode when Emma and the Charmings appeared with their latest crisis.


End file.
